Summary
Summary voters and elections
- Course
- Institution
- Book
Summary of lesson 9 on voters and elections by professor Jonas Lefevere (academic year ) that contains information from the handbook, slides and my notes
[Show more]
Connected book
Book Title:
Author(s):
- Edition:
- ISBN:
- Edition:
More summaries for
-
Summary legislatures and executives
-
Summary political behavior, pressure groups and social movements
-
Summary nation states
Seller
Followlaerkewydhooge
Content preview
9 Voters and elections9.1 What are democratic elections?
Elections are a necessary (but not sufficient) part of democracy, because of the
transfer of power between different actors.
Democratic elections require a lot of preconditions…
o free and fair
o universal adult suffrage (= the right to vote)
o secret ballot
o impartial administration of voting and vote counting
o free and equal access to the polls
We can think of many threats to democratic elections abounds (e.g. gerrymandering,
access to the polls, disinformation…).
gerrymandering = drawing electoral boundaries to favour a particular party or interest
9.2 Who votes and why?
voter turnout = the number of citizens casting a valid vote expressed either as a % of
eligible voters or as a % of registered voters
⇨ varies substantially in democratic countries
System factors explaining differences in voter turnout
o importance of the election
Citizens are more likely to vote if they think the election is important.
⇨ elections on local and national level = first-order and most important
⇨ European elections = second-order so less important
o electoral system
PR voting systems have a higher turnout than other systems, because of the idea
that every vote counts and there aren’t wasted votes in PR systems (for example
in the Netherlands small parties can have power in the parliament ↔ in the US
small parties can’t claim a seat in the parliament).
o close, competitive election
Close elections, where every vote counts, tend to have a higher turnout.
o frequency of election
Citizens who are often called out to vote seem to suffer from ‘election fatigue’.
For example Switzerland has a low election turnouts, because of the frequent
use of referendums.
, o compulsory voting = the legal obligation for citizens to appear at the polling
station on election day
In countries where voting is compulsory, the turnout is only about 4-5 percent
higher on average than in countries where voting isn’t compulsory.
Voting should be compulsory. Voting shouldn’t be compulsory.
civil duty abuse of freedom
increased participation cosmetic democracy
countering social disadvantage worthless votes
Individual factors explaining differences in voter turnout
o socio-economic status (SES)
o socio-demographics (age, ethnicity, residence…)
Young and old people are less likely to vote, as well as women and members of
minority groups.
o party identification (PID)
People with a strong party identification (feeling attached to a party) are more
likely to vote.
o values and culture (article parents)
⇨ Post-materialist values promote participation and civic responsibility.
⇨ Low turnout among the young and first-time voters will tend to persist in later
life
o protest voting = voting for a party not to support it but to show opposition to
another party or parties
9.3 What are different voting/electoral systems?
voting/electoral system = arrangements by which votes are converted into seats on
representative bodies
Two main categories…
1) plurality/majority
⇨ goal is to identify a clear winner
⇨ larger parties win a higher proportion of seats than the proportion of votes they
gain in the election
2) proportional representation (PR)
⇨ goal is to represent diversity
⇨ proportion of seats is more or less proportional to votes gained in the election
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller laerkewydhooge. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $3.77. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
61001 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now